When Clemson made its run to the Elite Eight back in 2024, one of the reasons why they got there came from a sharpshooter from Glens Falls, N.Y.
Glens Falls is not the place you think of when looking for a guy with dead stroke accuracy from the outside, but Joe Girard III was not your normal basketball player, either. Playing for his father, Girard scored 31 points in his first high school game, and he did it as an eighth grader.
From there, he went on to score 4,763 points, good enough for 10th all-time nationally in high school basketball. Girard eventually ended up at Syracuse where he led the Orange to the Sweet 16, while averaging 16.4 points, including 88 three-pointers his final year. He made 89 triples the year before, while connecting on 40 percent of his three-point attempts.
After entering the portal for his final year, Girard landed at Clemson, giving the Tigers the kind of shooter Brad Brownell had not had since the days of Gabe DeVoe and Marcquise Reed in 2018.
Girad went on to make a career-best 105 threes in 2024, while shooting a career-best 41.3 percent behind the arc. It is one of the most prolific shooting seasons in Clemson history.
Since Girard’s one season in Tigertown, Clemson has not been able to find that one guy with a nothing-to-lose-mentality, until now.
In the spring, once the transfer portal opened, Brownell brought in former Notre Dame star Cole Certa, who averaged 16.1 points per game last season and was voted as one of the ACC’s most improved players in the league.
“He is more mature than most of my younger guys in terms of not only experience, but just the way he carries himself,” Brownell said. “He carries himself like a good players, a worker.”
Before camp on Wednesday, Certa was in the gym putting up shots, though the coaches gave the team the morning off from working out.
“We lifted on Monday and Tuesday and gave them Wednesday morning to kind of catch their breath, but he was in here shooting,” Brownell said. “I think he is super excited to be here. He is eager, but I really like what he brings.
“From an experience standpoint, from a confidence standpoint, he is a guy that wants to take big shots, so you can sense it when you are around him. His work ethic has been great. The fact we did not have many guards, he is getting to do a lot of different things right now, as well.”
And when Certa shoots it, he looks a lot like Girard.
“There are similarities there. That is why they both can really shoot,” Brownell said. “They do not think they are ever going to miss, and pretty much, as you said, it is when they cross halfcourt they think they are ready to shoot.”
“So, that is what you need. You need guys that have that kinda of belief. Cole has that, he is a confident player. He is a confident shooter. That is one of the things we liked about him, and when you watch him play, he is not gun shy.”
And that is exactly what Clemson needs.